The alternative working title was “Dead Blogs and Englishmen” after a January hiatus. Time flies works better; a year ago today….

Those that know me well, or indeed partially, or not all all, as the case for many may be, will know that I write. In the past it was science publications. Now it’s fiction.

Note to readers of my writing. Feel free to bypass the preamble and drop to the bottom if you just want a sample of my fiction proper.

My genre band seems wider than first imagined. In the three books and assorted short stories residing in my slush pile, I’ve dropped into fantasy fiction, psychological thriller, romance, YA, dystopia and horror…not gore; I’m not over keen on gore. Although, having just read Kings “The Dark Half” it’s not impossible I have a personal George Stark waiting in the background.

I digress. Writing, I used that word deliberately because it’s the more accurate descriptor. I have yet to publish. In fact, I have yet to decide upon how or where to start with that. Imagine the track “I’m on My Way,” by The Procrastinators, and you have arrived at that wall of self flagellation. (Yes, I know it’s The Proclaimers…I write, literal manipulations and word play; started with Dead Blogs and Englishmen above. You noticed that right?).

Last January I had a two year game plan. Simple enough really, start building up an author platform in year one; I’m told people in the industry like that. Like all good New Year resolutions I set up blog, Facebook author page and Twitter accounts.

2017, January, the blogiversary, which was last month. Tempus Fugit, twelve months already. Hard to believe really, but it left me with a firm grasp of Twitter nuances and a shade more blog know-how than a year ago. The Facebook thing, well it’s Facebook…never quite sure about that one. Same with Instagram, Pinterest, Google Plus, GoodReads and Linked-In; all of which I’m on now too; although in most cases it’s pretty recent.

No idea if that’s good or bad, if we treat it purely as a numbers game. Blogging, as it turned out, had an unexpected twist. I found the people behind the blogs amazing. Not just as blog post writers, but in their hearts. Support, friendship and good banter; and that is across all borders, religions and cultures. No prejudice, no hatred…just people getting along and enjoying it. Out of it I have new friends and colleagues from across the globe.

Did I say, “That caught me out?” Not just a numbers game then. It does leave a new dilemma. What next?

Achievements in 2016 related to writing.

Platform building; rightly or wrongly it seems to be working.

My second book, “The Assent of Rose Marie Gray,” was moved to the proofed phase and sits as a manuscript waiting for publcation. #procrastination.

The Bequest, my NaNoMoWri novel, is almost complete.

Thoughts on my first book, no working title apart from “Magnum Opus in Waiting,” continues to expand as a concept and has ensnared both other books with connections; even though they are both stand alone.

The short story series involving paranormal brothers Allan and Joseph Carmichael took a deliberate pause because their future depends on a third brother in the past (in “The Bequest,” chronology is everything…savvy?) I suspect large re-writes will be in order. NaNoMoWri 2017 project and turn it into a novel…maybe.

Ambitions for the 2017 (year two game plan)

In my book (pun intended…I write, right!) the principal one is to validate my abilities, or lack thereof. The need for professional scrutiny to move into the published circle of authors. By that I mean approaching literary agents, publishing houses or maybe the indie scene. The search for “Better Days,” (The Procrastinators again) and an end to uncertainty of purpose. That and to complete “The Bequest” and at least one new novel.

We shall see.

In the meantime I will offer a second taste of The Bequest; the short blurb and an excerpt containing one of my favourite characters; Rowena the Goth. It has appeared on my blog before, when the concept was being visited in the mind palace.

Remember friend, this is first draft material; unedited. That journey begins at The End. Tasters just ask anyone who gets this far if they like the feel of the exerpt.

Short Synopsis “The Bequest”

Emma Strickland’s late father was a professor of archaeology and modern day Indiana Jones, specialising in the occult. The family home, MarshBank House, fitted his interests closer than imagined. It collected the past, stored it and waited.

On the death of her mother, Emma inherited it all; unaware that not every bequest is part of the chattels.

Something is reaching out, beguiling Archibald Cleethorpes, a man who once unearthed a mirror in Rome while collecting with the professor. A mirror with a past. A mirror that shows death; more precisely people that are living, until the voyeur, thinking they are witnessing an accident, becomes the assassin.

Emma has the mirror now and Archie, haunted and possessed by a reflection he once saw, will do anything to get it back.

Excerpt

Adrian “Ade” Johnston was a bright kid that mixed with the wrong ones after his parents took their eye off the ball. Easy to do moving from toddler through to adolescence. Those days are cute. Maybes not at the time but looking back Pamela and Carl figured those were the times before “Get out of my bubble” and “What do you know?” appeared. The omnipresent realisation that every new teen cracks open. Older folk were always old and don’t know the minds of teenagers. How could they? They’re old.

Ade knew this to be true though. After all his generation were obviously the first to actually be sixteen…ever. Thirty seemed past it, unreachable, never going to happen. But folk older than that were just wrong. They were the ones running the world and screwing it up. They should all be put in homes until they get too old to have a say. Might be folk would just get along fine then. Only grandparents knew stuff. Well they had when he was a kid. Tales of the war, real stuff from history that even the Internet knew about. Gramps had been in it. Really in your face, up to the eyeballs, proper in it. He had medals too and that way of avoiding details which, to an empathic minded child, says hey, you really were weren’t you. As opposed to the hyperbolic crap most of his current mates said. Teens for you though. They all did it and they all knew they did it and that was just fine.

What was not fine, in his parents view, was how they had managed to watch good grades slump in the key years leading to examinations that counted. Ade knew why though. Love was money. It bought him stuff as a surrogate. Bespoke room that, in fairness, was the envy of his mates but when he needed help a new video game or bag of sweets didn’t cut the mustard. Then again they were in the age bracket that should be in homes to safeguard the planet. When you looked at it like that then what could you expect? The age of got to have the latest gadget, car, just so house was running. Any fool looking at 24/7 news could figure it out. Spend more get less; earn more do less. Wasn’t rocket science. Not to him and his mates at any rate. Politicians sucked, world leaders sucked and idiots that voted were sheep indoctrinated like religious folk. Dare to say something was wrong and boom. Off they went in the rhetoric of what the heck would Ade know at his age. They did though. Ade and his pals. They knew plenty. After all they were the first kids ever to be teenagers.

It started going off the rails when gramps passed away. Nothing sinister or untoward. He was just old. That didn’t make it hurt less because of all the people in his family who ever gave him any time to talk about stuff gramps was the only that chewed the fat. Ade thought that was a war thing. When you saw that up front it was bound to change you. A mate blown to pieces in front of you. One you had the crack with over breakfast, gone in seconds. There one minute, gone the next.

Get your head round that people.

The smell of fresh rain on mud, the chill of the air blowing a gale in wet clothes, boots full of water rotting your feet, the actual smell of flesh lacerated with bullets and screams of soldiers lying in the dirt waiting for medics that were just to damn busy. If movies came with smell-o-vision punters would be chucking up all over the place. Ade saw it all in gramps eyes and the way a rustic index finger tapped the side of his nose when a question got too close. Gramps remembered the carefree days before and then the bloodshed after. They were there. Ade felt it sitting in the living room when he visited. Living room. That always threw him too. So quiet, a bit like he imaged a morgue with just a clock ticking the time away until the moment to drop the coffin came. He often wondered if you could ever really come back after an experience like that. Yes, Ade sure missed gramps a whole heap of ways.

That was when Rowena the Goth found him. One afternoon after lunch at school when he was leaning on the railings at the furthest edge of the playing fields. Having some time out away from everything, lessons, mates, people. Space to just say cheers gramps and thank you for being the real parent; the one that cared.

“Go on then” came a soft voice behind him.

Ade took no notice. He was there to be alone. Besides girls didn’t speak to him outside class very often. The owner he couldn’t place anyway.

“Are you gonna jump the fence or not?”

“What?” Ade hoped that had some proper fuck off irritation in it.

“I’ve seen you here everyday for the last two weeks at least. Figured you were working up to blowing this joint.” She was still behind him.

“Yeah, well I might just do that. Life’s a bitch then you die.”

“Thanks”

Gramps cut him up there. Young un, t’aint her fault. It rolled round his head for a few before he replied. “I didn’t mean bitches as in girls. It’s just stuffs fucked up a bit.”

He turned round and things changed. Rowena the Goth as he’d never seen her before. Well, he had, just not paid any attention to her in school uniform. Her reputation was after hours. The black gear with silver bangles and purple highlights. Not forgetting the nose stud. Here she was kinda normal, uniform in the uniform and, well, fucking gorgeous.

Next he knew she was hugging him. Rowena the Goth, weirdo extraordinaire was embracing him, Ade, by the railings at the furthest point from school you could get without going truant. He clutched her back. Get your head round this people. Me and a girl…a real live girl.

“If you ever need to talk Adrian,” she left it unfinished. Not that a sentiment like that needs terminating. It is what it is. An offer of friendship, maybe more. The school bell ended lunch. They walked back holding hands, until they neared the main buildings where they separated. Not cool to be seen with a girl during school. That’s a tease job waiting to happen. Sixth form acceptable, but year too early.

Fuck the world, he thought, that’s crap too, like the lock up ages.

He reached back, took her wrist and slid his fingers back into place. Rowena smiled and schoolwork went out the window.

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136 Comments

Hi Gary, sorry I have been so absent of late from popping over to your blog. Generally finding life way to busy, started a full time job to raise some cash for promotion etc, and getting my paperback ready! Wishing you all the best for Nanowrimo and all your writing endeavours. Enjoyed your excerpt oh and anything with mirrors in it is bound to pique my interest as mirrors tend to feature in my writing too! 🙂

Never any need to apologise Marje, I was aware of your commitments. A mirror features heavily in the previous book and has a fleeting grimace in my first one too. In fact I have quite a slush pile forming!! I’m hoping NaNo will get time it needs… that of course needs real life to cut some slack lol

Hi Gary! Wishing you all the very best indeed for the upcoming NaNo…will you be doing another “progress report” type post like this in the new year? I always enjoy seeing how people have moved on with things 🙂 x

Thank you Em. I’m aiming to do a few updates in the new year on a range of writing things. I’m hoping I can give NaNo the time it needs this year. I’m also going to try the NaNoCamps more too so updates will swing throughout those. That and some changes to my social media accounts. Hmm, almost sounds like I know what I’m doing!!!

Oops too late…replied….definitely good at plan pondering here….it’s just the action that seems reluctant.

NaNo Camps are run the same as the November concept. A month long, but the writer sets their own goal. It can be any wordcount or project. I think they are good practice for the main event, get writers writing regularly, develop writer friendship groups and support and stop procrastinating. A lot of people have asked about them so I’m going to do a post on them once I know the date of the first one next year. Fancy having a go?? 😁

Thank you enjoyed that and can see why she is a favoriate. I have found blogging has helped me focus more on my writing. I put it out there I have to do. Total agree fellow bloggers (yourself so included in this) have been so supportive. I’m going to do NaNoNo this year have a bit of a outline for a story and looking forward to it. Have you considered self-publishing on-line? Amazon? Smashwords?

The support is invaluable; especially if you suffer from anxiety or that writers mind that skews in uncertainty. Mine does which is why I risked putting things on here. Comments act as sounding boards.
I am considering, and have been a while, self-publishing, There are still a few things I need to sort out and that’s where I’ve got behind. I’m aiming to start seriously moving in the publishing direction in the New Year. Get NaNo done and just not over stress about publishing at the moment. Come at it with fresh eyes as it were.

I like that you set out with a two year plan and found yourself surprised along the way. Any good journey has a few surprises and finding a community of great people is one of the very best ones I can think of.

Ha,ha…I’ve written a prologue for this years NaNo that summarises the ending of this one. I now know how to finish this one and have a good idea of where the new one is going. After NaNo I’m going to enter the new year with a publishing head on….well, that’s the plan lol #GaTu

Absolutely, engagement is the driving force for me. One reason my lost rate is low is because I end up on other people’s blogs all the time! I keep thinking I need to find a better balance, but good reads are hard to leave! Thanks for the comment, knowing something is a good read really inspires more 😊

You have perfectly captured this teenagers angst and grief Gary…Like you I write supernatural but no gore and need to finish it,…Everything seems to have got in the way this year and nano write would have perfect but I just knew I couldn’t give the time..maybe next year…I do hope you finish yours 🙂

Thanks Carol, having teenagers helps there and, let’s face it, we’ve all been them at some point! I’m the same too, this year I’ve not been as focussed on writing as I should be. Hoping to change that in the coming months. This book has found its ending and I’ve written the summary as part of the prologue to set up NaNo this year. It’s helped get me back in the zone so I should be able to complete this book relatively easily now and progress the sequel in November. Next year we can all link up and get writing. CampNaNo’s are the ease in methinks 😊

Agreed. I’ll post more on it all once I know what the Camp months are. For me they might help get the writing routine back up and running. Unless I get totally mind melted in November! Thank you Carol 😊

I enjoyed that! I think you got the teenage “only we can understand youth,” vibe perfectly! I really enjoyed reading this and feel so bad for Adrian! His gramps seems to have been the most awesome sort, and I could feel Ade’s loss. Great story!

I’ve actually got several test pieces from this one on here showing a few of the core characters. Ade is a big one, as is his new girlfriend 😇 Certainly his gramps had a big influence on him too. Thank you again 😊

Ah I love this. I love how you’ve captured teenage angst. I can actually really relate to this character. I always thought my Grandmother was the only one that cared (don’t worry, I know better now) and I love how he connects with Goth Girl. I want to read more now!

You may be surprised to know these two are probably my favourite characters in this book! I do remember the teen years really well and often dip into them to find bits to use…plus I have two teens now lol. I also know what you mean re caring back in the day too. I think many things I try and put into writing draw off psychology to “try” and get readers to identify with them. Thank you so much for the wonderful comment too x

Thank you Ruth; I think you are right too; when I live by only my own goals its easy to lose the path. I found NaNo doable because of the buddy up system and support that offered. On here I love reading other authors stories on how they approach things and keep motivated. I did a course a while back and that really hit at finding writing buddies outside of family and friends because they tend to feel obligated to be nice rather than objective. Absolutely spot on though. Ambitions and achievements are really important to all life goals 🙂

Thank you so much indeed 🙂 I found that writing novels is pretty rubbish for regular blogging so the title just popped out! I aim to finish this novel over summer now. Time got sucked in with my other completed book The Assent of Rose Marie Gray and what to do with it!! Hopefully be reorganising this theme too in order to let people find my writing much easier… 🙂 xx

Gary what an awesome read. Love it and I will be back for a re-read just to make sure I did not miss anyrhing,
Stats, yes thats stats, but also good to know and encouraging to see how others interact and ❤️ your work. Well done my friend and keep on writing.

Thank you Esme; I have a couple of other bits from this knocking about as I used the blog way back to put testers up to see if people thought they might be worth pursuing or not. In fact most of my writing on here uses that as a primary purpose. Try it and see what readers think then go away and act on comments kind of thing 🙂

Thank you for such a generous comment Cathleen and a pleasure to see you here too 😊 Feedback from writers is always appreciated, although it’s writing matters that have reduced post rates recently. Time being the adversary and all that! Have to say I’m enjoying blogging nevertheless. Never ceases to amaze me how supportive people are. The excerpt this book is from is almost first draft complete too. Got side tracked with one that’s ready to go out in search of a publisher!! Exciting and scary times ahead 😇

Hi Gary! Long time no talk!! I love your puns!!
I’ve lost my home internet again (dang it DAn, why do they have to keep raising the price????) so posting is job #1. But, I’ll sneak visits in to peeps occasionally!
Happy Blogaversary!! You made it!!

Just a bit…although this is my first post of the year owing to assorted life eek! Boo hiss about your internet though, that must be proper annoying! No worries re visits either….I’m trying to balance that part too. My post deficit is partly down to wandering about. There is only so much time in a day!
Thanks for coming over though! Really appreciate it and a year yes….I think the phrase is Tempus Fugit lol

“No worries” is a good phrase!! WE all understand each others’ time constraints!
Oh, the agony of no home internet! It’s only been 3 days, and already I’m wondering if I’d really miss food that much, if I quit buying groceries?? That’s how addicted I am! Thankfully, SW only lives 1/2 mile away! AND, most importantly, he gave me a key to his computer room!!
You’re welcome.
I really have to look up that Latin phrase now!

That’s the other good thing about most bloggers I’ve met. Very understanding of time and life demands. Did you know I was going to put you on my versatile bloggers list, but when I went to collect your URL I noticed you’d just done it!
Gosh, three days…how on earth are you coping 😱

Gary!! I’ve been a terrible follower, I’m just brushing up on all of your writings! You’ve been busy and I love your aspirations and ambition for 2017. This is why I’d love to nominate you for the Versatile Blogger Award. i know you might have already received this award, but I feel like you deserve the recognition. Follow this link:http://wp.me/p7OhSP-1k4 for the rules and requirements of the award. I’ve also listed your blog in a link on my post. You are amazing and very very talented!

Good grief, never say terrible follower as I could levy the same. I often have far less time than I need to regularly catch up with bloggers. It’s a trade off between real life, writing and blog hopping. Neglecting fellow bloggers is terribly guilt inspiring!
Thanks for the nomination too, I’ve not engaged too many of those (my nemesis time and writing) and have a few to catch up with. That said I might do this at the weekend. I need to get back into more regular posting. Many thanks for the shout out too and for popping over. Really appreciate that! Including the very generous words 😊

Oh, Gary…..I am so pleased that you posted….I love, love, love, love this!!!!!!!!!!! I know I’ve said it over and over, but you really do have such a natural and wonderful gift for writing stories….everything reads like a hit novel…by the by, I read The Dark Half eons ago (something tells me more than once…I love your writing like I love Stephen King….seriously, that is as true as true can be….stay the course, my friend….through dark, dim, light, and bright….it is all bringing you closer and closer to your literary breakthrough…I’m so proud of you…thanks for sharing 🙂

Too kind as ever Truly. If I had half your positivity I’d be further ahead already! But I have my planned strategy to work with. Year two was always going to involve that anxiety of will it be published. I’ve over thought that many times instead of sticking to the plan. I must now condense the bigger picture into the smaller steps to get there. Thank you for the positivity 😊

Something as huge as pursuing your passion/dream/gifts is bound to be daunting…if not downright vomit-inducing…when the rest of us get to the point where you are, you will be in your field of dreams and encouraging others to keep going–just as you do for us now 🙂

I seem much better at advising than doing and taking my own advice at the moment!! I’ve about run out of thing to procrastinate with now too, which is most disturbing!!! Be nice if I was just able to stop worrying about things and just write safe in the knowledge that I knew what was happening. Uncertainties are very paralysing at times.

Yes, uncertainty is a hard pill to swallow…sitting with it is soooooo challenging….it makes it hard to sit still and hard to get mobilized….and, I think it is easier for most to say rather than do, because we have greater objectivity when on the outside looking in…which can leave us forgetting the complexities of the psyche….it’s never as easy as black and white when one is wrestling with what ifs and how comes etc. You are a gifted and sensitive person, and you’re bound to worry….you’re human and you are growing and that process is rife with stress….but, you are also great at connecting and sharing and people are drawn to you…you aren’t alone….everything is going to turn out amazingly, I can feel it 🙂

That it is. Has the power of incapacitating rational thinking and inserting strife and angst. I think you’ve nailed the psyche too, although given your job, I’d rather expect you to have a wealth of thoughts on the subject too. I think my makeup is to wrestle with worry. The trick is not to let it overwhelm and perform mental interventions. Easy to say. Thanks again for the positive thoughts. I appreciate that and once I’ve decided on what to do things will find their course 😊

I smiled when I read ‘not gore; I’m not over keen on gore’; me neither. I also share your love for psychological thrillers 🙂
The excerpt: well done! I don’t like cliffhangers, so hope you will finish this story(book) soon 😉
And looking at your lists; that are some serious goals to achieve. Good luck! Will keep my fingers crossed for you.
XxX

Lol…gore is too easy and leaves nothing to imagination in my opinion. I prefer to let imaginations fill in the gaps…bit like the Hammer days of yore. Psychological thrillers offer much more (my opinion) if you get the reader to identify with the protagonists then you can take novels almost anywhere and still hold interest. My plan is to complete this first draft in the next four weeks. There are a few other snippets if you search my blog for “The Bequest” I put those up ages ago when I was first trying out characters for this book. It took NaNo to draw things out into a novel. Really appreciate your comment and if I manage to achieve any goals I’ll be blogging about them for weeks lol. X

We have similar tastes even by the sound if it. I try to write what I’d personally like to read. Not sure that’s wise in terms of marketing though 🤔 But then there must be massive chunk of folk that also like what I read so maybe it is! Thanks again for inspiring the mind to get cracking 😊

Don’t undersell yourself….social media requires a lot of time to build…not everyone can juggle life and that all the time. This was my first post of the year due to other things taking priority. Thank you for the positive thoughts though. It’s those that give me a pick up when I start overthinking about the key goal….publishing!

Thanks April, I know extracts don’t really give much away so it’s difficult to judge where it’s going. But then it’s not good to put up too much as publishers don’t approve. Many thanks for taking the time to read and comment though. It’s very much appreciated!

Thanks Ritu and yes, I aim to finish it before Autumn… in fact if I am to do NaNo this year I have to because that project is to convert the paranormal brother short stories into a novel and take them to conclusion. However, this one needs to be concluded first as parts of it affect the other one now!!!!

Hi Gary,
You are a busy guy. It sounds like you have Great Expectations for 2017 (Are you a Dickens fan?) I am definitely a King fan. I have read many and even own a signed King. We have that in common. I hope you’ll keep me apprised of how your ambitions progress toward realization.
Janice

Hi Janice,
Brilliant to hear from you and I’ve also dropped onto your meet and greets of late too. Finding the mojo….not a January person lol. I do enjoy Dickens when the mood is right yes….although Moderate Expectations is more accurate…but a signed King book…ooh deep envy! I will certainly be keeping you in the loop of progress. At least every two weeks on your blog 😊 Thanks for taking time out of your busy life to pop over. Really good to see you !

Your numbers are great from my perspective. Having been in this thing for a year, I am short of those numbers. Although I don’t put too too much stock into them.

It’s quality rating you’re putting out, so I’m not surprised that you’re following. I just started writing a lot more section myself. Although, it’s nothing to put it on the blog which tends to be called nonfiction personal essays.

You’re so right Mark…the numbers game can be very distracting and if you pay too much attention to it things can have motivation impact. I only really took stock of things because I’ve started reviewing my social media in an effort to streamline things a bit and refresh things. Thanks for the positive thoughts on my content. Writing is a weird job….you do it and think yes, that’s good…then you you go back later and it’s WTF is that gibberish! Blogging allows me to put snippets out and see what total strangers think. Scary yes, but that’s the nature of the beast yes? Oddly, after a year, some of those strangers have become friends now too. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. It’s really appreciated!

Tempus has indeed fugit-ed…good to see your post and update. Rowena is definitely a character worth expanding…she has a certain sassy charm to her that could be the saving of Ade…
As for the brothers…well …you know how I feel about them…but it’s good to have a plan 🙂

Lol…sassy charm…good summation. With those two it’s more a mutual saving so to speak. Whether the ending permits togetherness beyond the book is rather akin to do we have three brothers or two. I’m hoping to get back into it this week…I mean someone needs to read the first draft to see if it’s worth the pain of editing after all 😱

You are tormenting me with all these moral quandaries… strictly speaking, we need three brothers happily reunited to waltz on through a series of daring psychic adventures… and a goth style wedding dress… I could read for you 🙂 🙂 (…would it count on Goodreads?)

Three just seem to balance perfectly …a triumvirate of brothers, each bringing their own particular skills to the table..plus the fact that that three is an important number numerogically and could give them an advantage….just saying..:)

Well, there a thing…my protagonists late father was well into that and the synergies in numbers…how…coincidental…although one must stay true to how the story unfolds. I’ve tried writing to work things as I want them before and my character cast does a mental tapping of foots in unison…the sort you just know is disapproval!

Oh heck, I never thought you buy that come see a sample line 😱 Pressure on now then. Fear not, however, the idea raised is embedded in my concept journal. I quite like the idea…although living it might keep one up at night 🤔 Thanks so much for your kind comment though 😊

Ooh, thank you. It’s quite nerve wracking when my social persona invites new people (beware the “Friend Request”) to explore my mind…which is what the writing is really. Smart is relative too. If someone knows more about something than you they will appear smart….if the same person knows less about something than you then you will appear smart. Everyone has skills, trick is finding out what they are….call that a work in progress here 😱

lol No Warcraft for me. I was a Playstation girl through and through back in the day. Final Fantasy 7, Tomb Raider etc. I defected to the Xbox one a fact that still surprises me and I love it. Like the reading the last 4 years I didn’t get a lot of time (I was a carer as well as working full time). These days it’s GTA 5, another game that I didn’t think I would like. I’m addicted to Pinball and love Red Dead Redemption too. I have Dragon Age, Final Fantasy 15 and Witcher 3 to start when I get the time lol

I used to be a PlayStation guru too except my boys friends were all XBox so I’ve switched allegiance now. Done Red Dead, Skyrim, most of COD, Left for Dead, Dead Island and have Dragon Age, The Witcher 3 and half a dozen other titles that time denied access to. Although Battlefield 4 is good for an hour lol

I’m one of those weirdo’s who gets motion sickness from first person shooter games lol I did play a little Battlefield on the 360 though. It went like this, spawn, stand up, get shot lol If was a vicious circle!!

You are too kind my friend. Really appreciate your comment as, like many writers (I’m told) have tremendous self doubt about their own work. I’ve fallen in and out of love with this book so many times it’s done my head in! Currently I’m at ind with it again so hoping to finish it over the next few weeks. Thank you so much 😊

Amazing job with characterization and imagery (as always)! I can’t wait to know what Archie saw in that mirror and I am excited about the relationship forming between Ade and Rowena. (Rowena has been such a powerful name in literature. I am curious to see the impact she makes in your tale.)

Thank you also for voicing your writing goals. One of my favorite adages about goal setting is, “It’s not a goal until you write it down.” Keep up the good work!

You are too kind indeed. Thing about book writing is I want to expose the whole plot with characters I like, but that would be provide ruinous spoilers and defeat the point of wanting people to see it all in one go! Only got about four chapters left to do in order to complete the first draft of this now though. As for writing goals, prior to this post I was mentally unstructured. You are quite right in saying writing them down makes them more real and potentially reachable. Better than having a melting pot of thoughts all cascading together and overwhelming things to a standstill.

Hooked up on linked-in too, thanks for the invite although my presence there is very much a work in progress. Very new to that place and also on my list of organise social media better. Thank you so much for popping over too. I must get back into the habit of posting!